Normal or Bright?

By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D

Q:
Hi, I live in Ascot, I have noticed that may baby son in his early week
was very advanced he can follow my finger with his eyes from the day
one, he started to smile from his first week he started to understand
when i ask him if you are hungry and he replies to me with a big smile
in his first month, he want to stand on his feet very early and start to
grab things in his two months, start to make sound and gurgle and one
day he said mama I could not believe it in his three months, the staff
in the play and stay noticed that he is clever he wants to talk to them
laugh and smile with them he loves watching programs or cartoon when
there are speaking if they are just making sound like teletubbies he
does not like it, he start to turn in his side by him self before he
reach three months, now he is four months he cries when i said to him we
will go out he stopped and when we are outside he is very curious he
watches every thing around. IS HE BRIGHT? or its normal thing for baby?

A:
The description you gave is not very detailed to suggest if your child
is normal or bright. These days, due to excessive exposure, most
children are able to do things much earlier than say, 30 years ago.
Children are naturally curious, so they would always prefer change of
environment. Most babies are quite happy to be outdoors and see
different things around them. Bright colours and music grab their
attention and they enjoy that.

There is a lot more you need to describe to suggest if your baby is
clearly advanced. For now, enjoy every moment with him and monitor his
progress carefully. Do refer to the previous newsletter for obvious
signs of advanced development that would help you figure out how to
cater for his needs and help him further.

Parents are the best people to recognise gifts in their children. Look
out for these distinct characteristics to determine if your baby is
progressing at a more advanced rate. They are unusual alertness in
infancy, high levels of energy, less requirement of sleep compared to
other babies, lengthened attention span on subject of interest, early
recognition of caretakers, intense reactions to noise, pain, and
frustration, absorbs learning quickly, fascination with books, rapid
cognitive development, early and extensive development of language,
heightened sensitivity and compassion, highly curious, keen observer,
vivid imagination, etc. Not all children would have all these
characteristics to be recognised as potentially gifted but most of them
would have a good number of them. Additionally, surf the internet for
some readings on bright babies and tips to further promote their
development.

For now, just enjoy your baby and give him enough exposure to feed his
curious mind. At this stage all children are gifts regardless of whether
are developmentally advanced or not. Good luck!